Online Encyclopedia
Ice sculpture
Ice sculpture is a form of sculpture that uses ice as the raw material.
Sculpting ice presents a number of difficulties due to the variability and volatility of the material. Ice must be carefully selected to be suitable for sculpting. The ideal material should be made from pure, clean water for high transparency, and have the minimum amount of air bubbles. The temperature of the environment affects how quickly the piece must be completed to avoid the effects of melting; if the sculpting does not take place in a cold environment, a large ice house is generally required. For this reason ice sculpture is not common in warm or temperate areas.
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Cuisine
Ice sculptures feature decoratively in some cuisines, especially in Asia. When holding a dinner party, some large restaurants or hotels will use an ice sculpture to decorate the table. One of the most popular themes involves a pair of swans, often representing the couple in a wedding celebration. To prevent or slow melting, these ice sculptures are kept cool with dry ice.
Ice sculpture around the world
China
In China, Manchuria is the most significant region for ice sculpture. The most famous event is the increasingly popular International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival held in Harbin. The festival has consistently increased in size over the years, with more talented artists involved and more impressive techniques and pieces on show. Ice sculpture decoration ranges from the modern technology of lasers to traditional ice lanterns . The climate of Manchuria is very cold and ice is plentiful. Objects of all sizes appear, up to and including building-sized pieces.
Japan
The Japanese city of Sapporo on the island of Hokkaido is famous for its winter carnival, in which teams compete to create ice sculptures. Some of these creations are the size of multiple-storey buildings.
As well as its popularity in Asia, there are many countries in the west famous for their ice sculpture.
Sweden
Although ice hotels now exist in several cold countries, the Ice Hotel in Kiruna, Sweden is best known as the earliest. Since its creation in 1989, the hotel has featured in many television travel programmes, magazines and newspapers. With the exception of the beds, the entire hotel is made completely out of ice blocks - even the glasses in the bar are made of ice. The ice is made from water taken from the River Torne . The hotel features more than 60 rooms and suites, a bar, reception area and chapel. It charges around 2,800 Swedish Krona (approx. 390 US dollars) per room per night. The hotel only exists between November and May.
Canada
In Canada, Quebec City, Quebec holds an ice sculpture festival each year during the Quebec City Winter Carnival. The sculpture festival lasts about three weeks. For the sheer variety of ice sculptures and the number of visitors, the Quebec festival is regarded by some as the best in the world. Each year about twenty teams are chosen to participate in the competition. Half of these teams come from Canada and the others comefrom other countries. Ice sculpting started to become important in Quebec in the 1880s, as traditional sculptors like Louis Jobin turned their skills on this less permanent medium.
In the National Capital Region of Canada the Crystal Garden international invitational ice-carving competition starts every February, as part of the Winterlude winter festival of Ottawa. The competition site has been located in Confederation Park in Ottawa and also on the shores of Leamy lake in Gatineau, across the Ottawa River. There is a solo category, a pairs category and a one-bloc challenge.
About 10 km East of Quebec city, near Montmorency Falls and within the grounds of the Duchesnay winter resort the first Ice hotel in North America is erected each January.
External links
- Ice Hotel http://www.icehotel.com/english/index2.htm
- Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival http://www.harbin-ice.net/